Florida moves primary up to Jan. 31

Friday

Sep 30, 2011 at 1:06 PMSep 30, 2011 at 1:06 PM

NewsCore

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- In defiance of national party rules, a special committee in Florida on Friday moved up the Sunshine State's presidential primary date to Jan. 31 in an effort to play a larger role in the 2012 presidential nomination process, the St. Petersburg Times reported.

"This is about getting the most Floridians involved at the earliest possible time," Republican state Sen. John Thrasher told the St. Petersburg Times.

Florida's decision is at odds with a Republican National Committee rule that only Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina can hold their nominating contests earlier than March 6. Florida's move virtually ensures other states will also move up their primary dates.

"It is more important for states such as Florida not to be on the back end, but to be on the front end of these primaries," former state Sen. Al Lawson of Tallahassee told the St. Petersburg Times.

Florida also moved up its primary date to late January in 2008. The switch paid off, as Senator John McCain's victory there was seen as key in his path to gaining Republican nomination.

The state also lost half of its delegates to the 2008 Republican National Convention -- as it will again in 2012 for violating RNC rules-- leading some to see the decision to move up the primary as short-sighted.

"The only thing others will say is that going early will help Florida be more significant. I would submit that we will be less significant because no candidate can get momentum from the few delegates they will get from Florida," said Republican National Committeeman Paul Senft of Haines City, Fla. "We will have little, if any, impact on the delegate count for any candidate."

Supporters of the move claim that momentum is far more important than the number of delegates a candidate wins.

"It is indisputable that what matters most in the early primary season is momentum, not delegates," US Rep. David Rivera (R-Fla.) wrote in an email to party officials Friday, according to the St. Petersburg Times. "That is why states like Iowa and New Hampshire, which have minuscule delegates, matter," he continued.

The chairman of Iowa's Republican party -- the state where the first-in-the-nation presidential caucus is held -- blasted Florida's move.

"The arrogance shown by Florida's elected leadership is disappointing, but not surprising," Matt Strawn said in a statement. "Equally troubling is to see this petulant behavior rewarded with our national convention."

The Republican National Convention is due to be held in Tampa, Fla., the week of Aug. 27, 2012.

Iowa has not yet set the date for its 2012 caucus, though Strawn reiterated that it would remain first and would be announced once New Hampshire had decided on a date for its first-in-the-nation primary.